News and Analysis

How to Use Maps for Local Marketing

Techniques for measuring DOOH exposure and mapping to give cross-device measurement more meaning are being utilized by larger brand marketers, but smaller companies are also getting into the game and finding innovative ways to layer maps onto their local strategies.

Here are five ways that marketers can use mapping technology in their local campaigns.

InMarket Buys NinthDecimal as Location Consolidation Persists

The move comes at a time when location marketing competition is heating up as the number of major players in the space winds down. Foursquare is widely recognized as the leader in location, especially after its merger with Factual earlier this year. PlaceIQ acquired Freckle IoT. X-Mode bought Location Sciences’ location data assets. 

With the boost of NinthDecimal’s tech, talent, and partnerships, InMarket is better positioned to compete.

KickCOVID.us Crowdsources Business Safety Data

KickCOVID.us is one part business directory, one part safety monitor. The hyperlocal mobile website allows consumers to read and rate the relative safety of businesses based on the precautions they are taking around Covid-19.

Look up Cooper’s Hawk Winery and Restaurant, for example, and you’ll see that social distancing is being enforced and some masks are being worn, but no temperature checks are taking place. At Matchbox, a restaurant in Ashburn, Virginia, most people are wearing masks and no-contact delivery is currently available.

Commentary

Top Experts Hold Conclave in Major Effort to Save Local News Industry

“The news industry now has to be very much focused on understanding users and delivering to them a very powerful, useful experience so they will be happy to pay for it,” says veteran journalist Bill Densmore.

Local Merchants Highly Dependent on Social Media at Time of Uncertainty for Platforms

Well over half of the local merchants with larger budgets that we surveyed for a report last year indicated that paid Facebook ads constituted their top marketing tactic. That’s a pretty heavy dependence on a company that’s been in the news for all the wrong reasons lately.

What Google’s New Review Guidelines Mean for SMBs, Agencies, and Vendors

Given Google’s new anti-review gating guidelines, what’s important for businesses, Mike Blumenthal tells David Mihm in their biweekly column, is to “make giving direct feedback to the business extremely easy. Most unhappy consumers just want to express their dissatisfaction and given a choice will do so directly with the business rather than on a review site.”

Latest Posts

Jersey’s New Brunswick Today Punches Its Way to a New Model for Local News

Does Central New Jersey’s New Brunswick Today represent the future of local news? The local site has made inroads in its community, supporting itself with a “three-legged stool” combining reader memberships, foundation support and site advertising.

Street Fight Daily: Alexa Enables Voice-Ordered Meals, Boston Globe’s Digital Revamp

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Amazon Prime Members Can Now Voice-Order Meals Through Alexa-Enabled Devices… Boston Globe Undergoes Major Overhaul to Compete in Digital Age… Lyft More Than Doubles Fourth Quarter Ridership Year Over Year…

Pingup Extends Reach With New Bing Integration

Consumers searching for local businesses on Bing will now be able to seamlessly schedule appointments, book services, and place restaurant orders online via Pingup’s local services transaction platform.

5 Ways Brands Are Using Voice-Controlled Systems for Consumer Marketing

For brand marketers, voice-based personal assistants represent a major opportunity in a largely-untapped space. Consumers are forming intimate relationships with these new technologies, providing major brands with the opportunity to interact with and learn about consumers in a way that hasn’t been possible before.

Street Fight Daily: Brands Cash in on Mobile Search Ads, Amazon Aims to Put Alexa Everywhere

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Brands See Big YoY Jumps In Revenue on Mobile Search Ads During 2016 Holidays… At CES 2017, Amazon Revs Alexa Everywhere Strategy… Marketing Automation is Powerful, But It Can Limit Internal Visibility for Brands…

Sponsored Post: 5 Digital Marketing Trends for the New Year

If 2016 was any indication of the fast-paced world of digital marketing, 2017 is sure to be another wild ride. To help businesses of all sizes keep up with the constantly changing technology, Vivial has put together our top five digital marketing trends and predictions for the new year.

inMarket Launches Ambient Intelligence Platform for Brands

Beacon proximity and location intelligence company inMarket announced this morning that it’s launching an ambient intelligence platform designed to change the way brands engage with consumers inside entertainment venues across the U.S.

Is There an SMB Analytics Market? And If So, What Should It Measure?

“I’m not convinced small businesses without a full-time in-house marketer really care about analytics,” David Mihm tells Mike Blumenthal in their bi-weekly chat. “They certainly don’t have the time or expertise to dive in each week and change their marketing or customer service behavior based on what a dashboard is telling them.”

Street Fight Daily: Retail Brands Deploy AI, Google Teams with Fiat Chrysler on Connected Car Tech

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… 5 Brands Infusing Retail with Artificial Intelligence… Google Teams with Fiat Chrysler to Turn Android Into Top Platform for Connected Cars… Wendy’s Taps Spotify Branded Moments to Catch You When You’re Hungry…

New AIs Offer Surprisingly Traditional Results for Local

At least for now, Alexa and Google are thinking of AI-powered local search in the traditional sense of providing the user with a range of relevant options — even when organic search is trending toward the single best answer.